As most of you have probably heard already, some Samsung Galaxy Fold devices that were shipped off to reviewers actually started breaking within two days, the phone’s main display seems to be the issue. Samsung decided to react quickly to such reports, and has reached out to The Verge.
The company confirmed that “a few reports” arrived to its address regarding Galaxy Fold’s main display. Samsung promised that it will “thoroughly inspect” those units, in order to determine the cause. In addition to that, the company said that some reviewers removed the top layer of the display, and thus caused damage to the display itself.
The Galaxy Fold’s main display features a protective layer on top of it, which may seem to be a screen protector to some people, thus some of them wanted to remove it from the display. It turns out that it is a part of the display structure, and the company says that it is designed to protect the screen from unintended scratches.
Samsung also said that removing that layer or adding adhesive to the main display can cause damage, as was the case with some Galaxy Fold review units. Samsung promised that information regarding that protective layer will be delivered to consumers, loud and clear, in order to avoid such issues in the future.
So, if you’ve seen a report in which someone removed the protective layer from the Galaxy Fold’s main display, then display issues are not Samsung’s fault, but fault of the person who removed that layer. On the flip side, it seems like quite a few media outlets did not mess with the protective layer, and still have serious display issues, and that is what Samsung is aiming to investigate.
At least one review unit developed a bulge that appeared to be the result of something in between the screen and the hinge, and that basically broke the phone’s display. That was the case with The Verge’s unit. That same review unit had white lines before the display broke, one horizontal, and one vertical line. In an another case, part of the display started flashing, and is apparently not working as it should. In one example, the phone’s display simply shut off. Some of those reports may be connected to the protective filter on top of the display, but The Verge says that it did not attempt to remove that layer, the same goes for a couple of other outlets.
These are all reports that arrived in the last couple of days (more info here), as many reviewers shared issues via social media. At first, this seems to be quite a big issue for Samsung and its very first foldable smartphone, but it is worth noting that these are just media samples, and Samsung will probably find the cause of such issues and address them before it starts shipping units to consumers.
The company did not mention anything about postponing the release of the Galaxy Fold, which is scheduled for April 26 in the US, and May 3 for Europe. Once Samsung figures out what caused such issues, it will be able to provide us with more information. If this ends up being an isolated problem, chances are that the phone will release as scheduled, but if it’s a widespread issue, especially a hardware issue, then things may not go as planned. All in all, we’re waiting for Samsung to figure out what’s going on and let us all know.